Baloba's Gift
by Melissa2
Summary: Strange things start happening and Harper doesn't realize what's wrong until it's a little too late. This is in response to the curse challenge posted on Slipstream.


Title: Baloba's Gift  
Author: ILH, aka Melissa  
Censor: PG-13  
Central Character: Harper, with a dose of Beka and Trance  
Disclaimer: Andromeda belongs to Tribune, not me.  
Author's Note: This was a spur of the moment thing and it's not very good. I just read the curse challenge and this hit me. By the way, the Baloba came from one of the herbal supplement bottles I saw today while I was shopping. I thought it sounded kinda tribal and weird.  
  
  
"Welcome to Dramactus II...yet another world full of lovey dovey couples that insist on walking by me," Harper complained.  
  
"It's not that bad. At least you get those schematics you've wanted," Beka said.  
  
"Yeah, but none of these babes are even giving me a second glance. They're all drooling over Tyr or Dylan." He stared at the ground, feeling more than somewhat inadequate.  
  
"Well, I'd sit around and listen to you mope, but I've got people to meet and money to make from it." She put a hand on his shoulder. "And you've got some schematics to pick up soon. Don't forget about it."  
  
"I won't, Boss," Harper said and watched her exit the café. He sighed. "It sucks to be me."  
  
He let five minutes slowly pass by before the need to move overtook him. He hopped up out of his chair and went to the cashier to pay for his coffee.  
  
"You're looking down," the exotic man said, his accent making the words somewhat hard to understand. "Are you not enjoying Dramactus?"  
  
"Yeah, well it's kinda hard to enjoy it when all the drop dead gorgeous women are hanging all over your friends and not you," Harper said, paying for his coffee.  
  
"Ah, lady troubles. Might I suggest you try Baloba's hut?" the cashier said.  
  
Harper's eyes widened slightly. "Baloba's hut? Is that an uhhhhhhh...you know..."  
  
"What? Ah, no, it's not a brothel. He provides assistance to men such as yourself."  
  
"Hey, I've never had any complaints in the love department. The ladies always say-"  
  
The cashier laughed in a deep tone. "I never said that you did. Baloba's hut is in the center of the market. You can't miss it."  
  
Harper exited the café, not knowing whether he should be ticked off or grateful for the advice. "Just visiting this Baloba guy can't hurt, can it?"  
  
Harper walked through the market, stopping for a moment at various stands and shops to glance at the merchandise. He ended up buying a silver necklace with a strange lavander charm that he knew Trance would love, as an apology since she found out what really happened to Walter. To make a long story short, she wasn't happy in the slightest.   
  
He realized his shirt and shorts had no pockets. "Well, the guys around here are wearing lots of weird tribal stuff. And when in Rome..." He shrugged and put the necklace on his own neck. "Now, where's this Balboa...no, that's not right...Baloba!"  
  
"You seek Baloba?" a raspy voice asked from behind him.  
  
"Yeah, I'm looking for Baloba," Harper said, turning around.  
  
A tall, willowy man in cloaks stood in front of him. "The hut is there." The man pointed to a decorated hut not more than thirty meters away.  
  
"Thanks." Harper turned to look at the hut. "One more thing-" Harper stopped talking when he saw the man had mysteriously disappeared when he had turned his back. "Weird."  
  
Harper shrugged and walked over to the hut. The strong odor of incense eminated from the hut. Harper coughed as he entered it. The interior was much more decorated than the exterior. Large tribal tapestries and paintings hung from every wall, leaving none of the golden wall visible. As he was glancing around, someone poked his shoulder.  
  
"You seek me, no?" a feminine voice asked.  
  
Harper looked back at a woman a few inches taller than he was, her face covered in dark veils. "If you're Baloba, then yeah..."  
  
"I am Baloba. Why do you seek me?" she asked, ushering him to sit on the elaborate pillows on the floor behind him.  
  
Harper sat down. "Well, I've had no luck with the ladies here..."  
  
"Say no more. I shall return." She exited the room through the curtains that divided the hut and returned soon after with a bottle. She handed it to him.  
  
"That stuff is very...green," Harper said upon examining it. He sniffed it and quickly recoiled. "What is it?"  
  
"Drink it, and your luck shall change," she commanded.  
  
"Thanks, but I don't think I want it that much," Harper said, sitting the bottle on the floor a foot or two away from him.  
  
"You must drink it," she still insisted.   
  
"Or what? It's just some nasty green stuff. I could probably get a whole gallon from the sewers below this town."  
  
The woman looked truly offended, glaring at him. She grabbed his neck and began chanting in the local language, squeezing tightly.  
  
Harper pulled himself away and ran out of the hut, into the crowded market. When he was certain he wasn't being followed, he stopped to catch his breath. "That's the last time I ever listen to the locals."  
  
He picked up his schematics and headed back to the Maru, where Beka was waiting. She seemed angry at first, but her expression changed to concerned when she saw him up close.   
  
"Are you feeling all right, Harper?" Beka asked.  
  
"Well, if it weren't for freaky local witches, I'd be just fine," Harper replied.  
  
"You've got a rash on your neck...and a necklace. Where did you get that?" Beka touched the necklace.  
  
"It's for Trance. Y'know, an apology gift for what happened to Walter," Harper explained.  
  
"I think she'll like it a lot. Purple is her favorite color."  
  
Harper undid the clasp and removed the necklace. "I'll give it to her once she gets back."  
  
As if by cue, Trance skipped happily into the room. "This planet is fun! You wouldn't believe how nice the people are and-"  
  
"Trance, I've got a present for you," Harper said.  
  
"For me? What is it?" she asked.  
  
He held out the necklace. "Turn around." She complied, and he fastened it around her neck.  
  
"It's so pretty. But why did you get it for me?" she asked.  
  
"I'm sorry about what happened with Walter, really I am. And I know it's not another plant, but..." He smiled at her.  
  
"I forgive you." She hugged Harper and smiled back.  
  
"Now that that's taken care of, we're getting out of here," Beka said. "I've had more than enough of this place."  
  
"What happened to her?" Trance whispered to Harper.  
  
Harper shrugged. "I'm gonna go take a shower. Maybe it'll get rid of this rash." He scratched his neck.  
  
"I'll take a look at it after you're done," Trance said.  
  
Harper hurried back to his quarters and stripped the second he was in the door. That Baloba woman was creepy. "I'll have to burn these," he said to himself. "Or even better, use a nanowelder on them and then toss the microscopic ashes out an airlock."  
  
He turned on the shower and waited for the water to get up to his favorite temperature, nearly scalding. He hopped in and thoroughly washed every last millimeter of his body with soap twice. After that, he scrubbed his neck until the soap started burning the skin. It felt as if he were cleaning every last particle of his contact with Baloba away.  
  
He turned off the shower and quickly dried himself while he was still in the shower stall. He didn't bother to wrap the towel around himself, since Beka and Trance knew he was taking a shower and wouldn't barge in on him.  
  
He entered the main part of his Maru quarters to see Trance sitting on his bed. He did a double take when he saw her staring at him. "You're...you knew I was..."  
  
"I knew you were taking a shower. I thought you'd be in a towel. This is definitely more than I hoped for," she said, looking at his body from his head down to his toes and back up again.   
  
Harper vainly tried to cover himself. "You're acting way out of character, Trance. Are you sure you don't need to go to Med Deck?" he asked, ignoring the blush that was creeping across his body.  
  
"You look a little tired. Why don't you lay down?" she asked, provocatively patting the bed beside her.  
  
"Ummmmmm I think I'll pass on that one. I've just gotta go get some clothes." He darted over to his drawer and opened it. Nothing remained in it. He opened the drawer below to see the same. Even the clothes he had been wearing were gone. "What did you do with my clothes?"  
  
"You're not going to need them," Trance said, grinning.  
  
"There's something wrong with you. I say that we head down to Med Deck," Harper said, running towards the door to his quarters. It didn't open. "You locked me in?"  
  
"I thought you wanted this, Harper." She stood and walked over to him. He backed away, but soon she had him pinned against a wall. She traced a finger across his jaw. "I'm not good enough for you?"  
  
"No, that's not it at all. But you must be drunk or something. And we're best friends. Best friends don't do...this," Harper said, trying to squirm away.  
  
"You can't say you've never thought about me like that," Trance said, running her tail from his ankle up his thigh, eventually resting on his upper thigh.  
  
Harper did all he could to keep himself from giving in to the temptation right then and there. He'd always wondered what her tail would feel like touching his bare skin. He gulped, but didn't say a word.  
  
She took a step back and looked him over again. "Now, you really can't deny it. You do want me. It's not like I don't have any experience."  
  
Harper closed his eyes and wished he would wake up. 'This has got to be some sort of twilight zone dream,' he thought.  
  
The sound of the door being forced open caused Harper to open his eyes.  
  
"Oh my god. What's going on here?" Beka asked, her forcelance still extended.  
  
"Well..." Harper started.  
  
"No, I know, but this a little hard to handle..." Beka said.  
  
"The only thing that's hard is Harper, but he denies it completely." Trance walked quickly out of Harper's quarters, seeming angry.  
  
"So you didn't instigate this, Harper?" Beka asked.  
  
"Nope. I was just minding my own business taking a shower. She stole my clothes and locked me in here and was trying to seduce me. I couldn't tell you why, though."  
  
"Somehow, I can't believe that. Trance has never acted like this before," Beka said.  
  
"Do you know where my clothes went?" Harper asked, changing the subject.  
  
"Let me go get you something from my quarters," Beka said.  
  
"I'll be here," Harper said as she left.  
  
He ripped the top blanket off of his bed and wrapped it around himself. "Now, all three of them have seen me naked," Harper complained. "Rommie just watches me all the time, even in privacy mode. I've checked her systems. But Trance and Beka..."  
  
"What about me?" Beka asked when she tossed Harper a robe from the doorway.  
  
"You saw me...naked," he said, staring at the floor.  
  
"I've seen more than my share of naked guys. Don't sweat it, Harper." She sighed. "I'm going to go check on Trance and make sure she's all right."  
  
"I think that's a good idea. She's probably delerious from some weird disease," Harper said.   
  
When Beka left, he pulled on the long robe and tied the belt tightly around it at waist level. He stared at himself in the mirror and noticed the rash had disappeared. "A good long shower can work miracles."   
  
Trance entered Harper's quarters as he was getting ready to fix the door. Beka followed her from behind.   
  
"I don't care about how I usually am. I want Harper!" Trance said.  
  
Harper noticed her neck had splotches of deep purple on it. "She's got the same rash I did."  
  
Beka and Harper exchanged glances. "The necklace!" they said together.  
  
Beka grabbed Trance. Harper undid the clasp and removed the necklace. Trance collapsed into Beka's arms.  
  
"Where did you get the necklace?" Beka asked, easing Trance onto Harper's bed.  
  
"From some shop. But I think it's cursed or something by that Baloba witch woman in the center of town," Harper said.  
  
"Throw that thing out the airlock now!" Beka said, moving away from Harper.  
  
"Do you know something I don't know?" Harper asked.  
  
"Let's get it to the airlock. I'll tell you on the way," Beka said. They started towards the airlock and Beka began talking again. "Baloba is a shapeshifter that seduces off worlders. If she doesn't succeed, then she makes them pay. Usually by doing what she did to you."  
  
Harper tossed the necklace into the airlock and sent it out into space. "Good bye and good riddance."  
  
"Trance won't remember what she did," Beka said. "I'm surprised you didn't know about Baloba...Dylan told us all in Obs Deck before we went planetside."  
  
"Yeah, well, my mind was elsewhere. Eight in the morning is kinda early for me," Harper said. "At least she won't remember seeing me naked."  
  
"What's the big deal about us seeing you naked?" Beka asked.  
  
"It's a long story. Maybe I'll tell you later," Harper said, grinning. "Or maybe some things should be kept solely in the mind of a freakin' genius." 


End file.
